Auxiliary jet stream injecting means for reaction engines



1969 P. w, KRAUSE AUXILIARY JET STREAM INJECTING MEANS FOR REACTION ENGINES Filed Sept. 20. 1966 INVENT OR FREDERICK w. KRAusr;

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,425,225 AUXILIARY JET STREAM INJECTING MEANS FOR REACTION ENGINES Frederick W. Krause, Rte. 1, Box 120, West River, Md. 20881 Filed Sept. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 581,143 US. Cl. 60--261 Int. C]. F 02k 3/10; F02g 3/00, /02

3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DKSCLOSURE This invention relates to thrust propelled engines such as rocket and jet engines, hereinafter referred to as reaction engines, and more particularly to improved means for increasing the thrust and efficiency of reaction engines.

The broad object of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of reaction engines by the provision of novel means for injecting intoa main stream of hot combustion products an .auxiliary supply of fuel for after-burning.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to accomplish the foregoing by the serial arrangement of chambers to effect super heating of a combined fuel/ water mixture, thus providing an auxiliary jet stream for injection into the main stream of combustion products of a reaction engine, the invention being particularly concerned with improved apparatus for converting from a liquid phase through vapor to a super heat phase of the mixture by the utilization of heat of the main thrust stream.

Other objects and their attendant advantages will become apparent as the following detailed description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of apparatus incorporating the features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of a valve member of the invention looking in the direction of line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional View taken substantially .along the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is .an enlarged elevational view of an orifice member looking in the direction of the line 55 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view partly in elevation and partly in cross-section showing a plurality of the units shown in FIG. 1 arranged in clusters;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but taken along the line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly FIG. 1 thereof the numeral 10 designates a body member constructed in accordance with the invention and is composed of three serially arranged compartments 12, 14, 16. The compartment 12 defines an inlet chamber or tube to which there is delivered by way of pumps 18, 20, mixing valve 22, .and delivery pipe 24, a mixture of fuel and water through a suitable mixing chamber and filtering means 26. The mixer valve 22 is a known type, springbiased closed and is adjustable to deliver pre-selected pro- 3,425,225 Patented Feb. 4, 1969 portions of fuel and water at predetermined pressures to the mixing chamber 25.

From compartment 12 the mixture of fuel and water passes through elongated passages into chamber 14 which is a vaporizing chamber. The passages 28 may be defined by grooves 28 formed on the internal surface of a longitudinal bore 30 through an externally threaded sleeve 32 having at one end a tool receiving hex head 34 as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. The hex end 34 may be provided with a dished or concave recess 36 and slidably received within the bore 30 is a plunger 38 having at one end a flattened part 40 which engages the dished recess 36 and serves as a stop to limit the movement of the plunger to the left in FIG. 3 with respect to the threaded member 32. a

The left hand end of the plunger 38 has an internally threaded counter bore which adjustably receives a threaded projection 41 on one side of a conical value member 42 which cooperates with a complementary valve seat 44 formed at the left hand end of the body member 32. Shims 46 may be interposed between the valve member 42 .and the end of plunger 38 so as to afford a pre-selected clearance between the valve and the seat 42 when the plunger is in the left hand position of FIG. 3. When the pressure in the chamber 12 is higher than the pressure in the chamber 14 the plunger moves in to the left hand position of the drawing and the valve 42 is open so that the mixture passes from the chamber 12 through the passages 28, past the open valve 42 and into the chamber 14, the conical valve and seat ensuring that the mixture is injected into the chamber in a highly dispersed, mist-like form. When the pressure in the chamber 14, for reasons that will be explained, exceed the pressure in the cavity 12, the valve 42 is moved by the higher pressure in chamber 14 to its closed position in the manner of a conventional check valve 14 to positively disconnect chambers 12 and 14 and prevent reverse flow from the latter to the former.

Desirably the body or sleeve 32 is received within an internally threaded neck part 48 at the right hand end of the chamber 14 .and chambers 12, 14 can be joined together in any convenient fashion as for example by the position of an internally threaded collar 50 fixed within the end of the chamber 12 and receiving external threads on the neck part 48 of the chamber 14. If desired, the extreme end of the chamber 12 may be flared as .at 52 to provide streamlining of combustion products flowing past the unit v10.

From the chamber 14, vapor flows into the chamber 16 which is a super-heat chamber. The vapor passes into chamber 16 through restrictive orifices 54 in a body member 56 which may be externally threaded and received in a threaded neck 58 at the left end of the chamber 14 with one end of the body 56 abutting a shoulder 60 at the inner end of the neck 58 as shown. The super heat chamber 16 may be secured in place by engaging internal threads at the right hand end of the chamber with the threads on the projecting part of the orifice body 56, a sealing washer 62 being interposed between the opposed ends of the chambers 14, 16 as shown. A tool receiving hex head 64 may be formed at one end of the body member 56 to facilitate assembly.

The left hand end of the chamber 16 necks down at 66 and is internally threaded to receive a nozzle member 68 having a jet orifice 70 therein through which super heated vapor exits from the interior of chamber 16. Desirably the orifices 54 are disposed close to the outer surface of the body 56 so that vapor passing there through is subjected to maximum heat of hot exhaust gases surrounding the unit.

In operation, one or more of the units 10 are mounted in a reaction engine, which may be a jet, rocket or ram-jet engine, in a position to have at least the vaporizing chamber 14 and the super-heat chamber 16 exposed to the hot products of combustion in the exhaust of the main reaction engine. That is to say, as the hot products of combustion flow rearwardly of the reaction engine towards the exit to produce thrust, the hot gases flow over and around the unit of the invention and initially the unit is thus pre-heated by the main stream of hot combustion gases before being placed in operation.

When the unit has been sufficiently pre-heated, the pumps 18, 20 are started or the control valves 71 opened and the mixing valve 22 manually set to open at the selected pressure so that fuel and Water flows into the chamber 12 and from this into the chamber 14 through the passages 28 and past the valve 42, and in the process purge air from the chamber.

In the chamber 14, the diffused mixture of water and fuel is converted into saturated vapor as it strikes the hot wall of the chamber 14 and when the pressure in the chamber 14 exceeds the pressure in the mixing chamber 12 the valve 42 closes so that the pressure continues to build up in the chamber 14. If desired a leakage groove may be formed in the valve seat 44 to supply additional mixture to the chamber 14 to ensure a continual flow through the unit towards the exit nozzle. With the valve 42 closed and the vapor in the chamber 14 expanding, it escapes at a high velocity through the orifices 54 in the body member 56 at the rear of the chamber and flows into the super-heat chamber 16 where the vapor is converted entirely into a dry super-heated gas mixture at elevated pressure and flows rearwardly through the nozzle 70 at an extreme-1y high velocity and is thereby injected into the main stream of hot exhaust gases emanating rearwardly of the reaction engine from its main combustion chamber.

When the gas mixture enters the main stream of combustion products the fuel is ignited either by the heat of the main stream or it may be ignited by an igniter plug 72 as shown in FIG. 6. At this stage, the mixing valve 22 may be adjusted to get maximum thrust, the valve 42 automatically responding to changes in pressure in the inlet chamber 12 to pass into the vaporizing chamber the amount of mixture required to replenish the supply in chamber 14 as the vapor and super-heated gas flows from this chamber through the orifices 54, thence outwardly of the unit through the superheat chamber 16 and the nozzle 70.

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 illustrate the unit of the invention when arranged in clusters within a ducted by-pass jet engine. The units themselves are identical to the unit of FIG. 1 except that the forward ends of the chambers 12 are connected to an annular manifold 74 which receives the mixture from suitable pumps (not shown) by way of an inlet conduit 24. The manifold 74 may be secured in place in any convenient manner as for example by means of annular wavy spring 76 shown in FIG. 8. The rear ends of the units may also be supported by a springy crennalated ring 78 whose inner loops engage an annular spacer ring 80 and whose outer loops engage the interior wall 82 of the jet engine combustion chamber. With this arrangement it will be apparent that a sufiiciently unrestricted flow path is provided through the length of the jet engine for the main stream of combustion products and at the same time the units of the invention are subjected to the heat of the main stream around the entire periphery. Obviously the mixer manifold 74 could be located outside of the main combustion chamber in the ducted by pass passage if it unduly interferes with the free flow of the main jet stream.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the invention provides an effective means for injecting into a main propulsion stream of a reaction engine highly dispersed fuel for after burning at great pressure with all of the injection power being supplied by expanding super heated steam, thus avoiding the complications of other fuel delivery means at the point of use. In addition the gaseous fuel and steam exiting from the nozzle 70 of the units in the reaction engine provide a measure of thrust in their own right which is additive to the main thrust of the jet engine. In addition, the super heated water vapor combines with the products of the main stream of combustion to increase the mass flow of gases exiting from the reaction engine thereby increasing the efficiency thereof. The units of the invention can be selectively cut in and out as desired to provide needed additional thrust, as, for example, for short take-offs and the like with the additional thrust being supplied in an eflicient and economical manner involving a minimum of moving parts and no moving parts subject to combustion heat.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the unit of the invention is susceptible of a variety of changes and modifications without, however, departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for producing and injecting an auxiliary jet stream into the main stream of combustion products of a reaction engine comprising a hollow body divided into serially arranged inlet, vaporizing and super heat chambers, means for mounting said body within a reaction engine so that at least the vaporizing and super heat chambers are subjected sequentially rearwardly to the heat of main stream of combustion products, means for feeding a mixture of liquid fuel and water in predetermined proportions to said inlet chamber, fluid pressure responsive deflector valve means between said inlet and vaporizing chambers for controlling the flow of said mixture from said inlet chamber to said vaporizing chamber, said valve means being constructed and arranged to move to either open or closed position depending upon whether the pressure in the inlet chamber is greater or less than the pressure in said vaporizing chamber, fluid flow restricting means between said vaporizing and super heat chambers for controlling the rate of fluid flow between said vaporizing and super heat chambers, and a nozzle in said super heat chamber opening in the direction of flow of the main stream of hot combustion products for injecting into said stream the super heated steam and fuel generated in said super heat chamber.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including in combination a reaction engine, said body being fixed in said reaction engine in the path of flow of the main products of combustion of said reaction engine, said nozzle opening in the direction of said flow, and means for igniting the fuel in the auxiliary jet stream exiting from said nozzle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said fluid flow restricting means comprise restrictive orifices.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,078,956 5/1937 Lysholm 60-393 XR 2,558,483 6/1951 Goddard 60-3974 XR 2,692,797 10/1954 Wood et al. 60-3974 XR 2,693,675 11/1954 Schaffer 60-3966 XR 2,776,537 1/ 1957 Peterson 60-243 XR 2,921,746 1/ 1960 Burman.

2,928,237 3/1960 Niles 60-3969 3,097,485 7/ 1963 Bidwell 60-3914 3,169,368 2/1965 Munding 60-3966 3,216,693 11/1965 Hook.

JULIUS E. WEST, Primary Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R. 

